Sept. Factory Orders Plunge

The Commerce Department just reported that U.S. factory orders were down 2.5 percent in September compared with September 2007, a deeper-than-expected drop.

That means "smokestack America," as CNBC's Rick Santelli referred to it, is contracting like most other U.S. businesses. This means factories are not buying steel, office supplies and so forth.

Analysts expected the September drop would be 0.7 percent. It's the second straight monthly drop for factory orders, which were down 4.3 percent in August, compared with August 2007.

-- Frank Ahrens